Lighting fixture



Jan. 23, 1962 R. R. GIBSON ETA]. 3,018,363

LIGHTING FIXTURE Original Filed Aug. 11, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS BY Mam,

ATTORNEYS Jan. 23, 1962 R. R. GIBSON EI'AL LIGHTING FIXTURE INVENTORS Original Filed Aug. 11, 1953 ATTORNEYS Jan. 23, 1962 R. R. GIBSQN EIAL LIGHTI NG FIXTURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Original Filed Aug. 11, 1953 INVENTORS Ridldrfifl. Gibson Gay 6. Rhoad I ATTORNEKS' Patented Jan. 23, 1862 3,018,363 LIGHTING FIXTURE Richard R. Gibson and Guy C. Rhoad, Atlanta, Ga., as-

signors to Gibson Manufacturing Company, Atlanta, Ga., a corporation of Georgia Continuation of applications Ser. No. 373,633, Aug. 11,

1953, and Ser. No. 752,378, July 31, 1958. This application Mar. 27, 1961, Ser. No. 107,611

6 Claims. (Cl. 240-51.11)

Gencrically this invention relates to lighting equipment but it more especially is directed to fluorescent fixtures adapted for individual, dual or infinite line mounting. This application is a continuation of application Serial No. 752,378, filed July 31, 1958, now. abandoned, which was in turn a continuation of application Serial No. 373,633, filed August 11, 1953, now abandoned.

The prevalent type of fixture comprises an elongated ceiling raceway channel supporting portion which in addition to wiring usually carrying ballast and other components and has connection with a lamp housing portion and in order to eifect mounting thereof, the complete fixture must be supported during the mounting operation and until the installation is wired, requiring both time and labor to eifect. Therefore, one of the principal objects of this invention is the provision of a fluorescent lighting fixture, wherein a lightweight channel or Wire containing ceiling raceway is a separate part of the fixture, the construction of the parts being such that the raceway is readily mountable in supporting position, after which the lamp housing is operatively connectable to the raceway in' a matter of seconds.

One of the principal objects of this invention is the provision of a simple lightweight ceiling raceway unit member carrying only electrical wiring and a detachable female socket connector mounted in the circuit, and a complemental lighting lamp housing unit carrying a male plug-in connector member, the construction of the parts being such that the lamp housing member can be operatively attached to the ceiling raceway in -a matter of seconds, completely separable or suspendingly openable for lamp installation and the like, and movable to oper ative closed position and adapted to be vibrationlessly locked without the use of any tool.

An important object of this invention is the provision of lightweight ceiling raceway units of the above charactor, and a spacer coupler member telescopically engageable in the meeting ends of contiguous units to automatically align said units into an infinite raceway in a manner to provide a predetermined space between the meeting ends of the lamp housing units when operatively secured to the aligned raceway units.

Another important object of this invention is the provision of a lightweight ceiling raceway unit of the above character, and coacting latch means between the raceway and lamp housing for readily effecting attachment and detachment of the lamp housing without the use of tools, this latching arrangement includes slots formed in one edge of the raceway channel unit and latch members carried by the lamp housing and insertable in said slots for supportingly attaching the housing, the construction of the latch members being such as to permit swinging of the lamp housing, and the further it swings down in opening direction the tighter it attachingly locks to the raceway, and said housing can be completely removed by simply lifting the latch members from the raceway channel slots.

A further important object of this invention is the provision of a lighting fixture assembly comprising a simple lightweight ceiling raceway unit having mounted therein only electrical current wires and means for detachably carrying a female plug mounted in said circuit,

and a lamp housing comprising all components except those carried by the lightweight raceway and including a male plug-in connector mounted in the lamp circuit and engageable with said female plug to complete the lamp circuit, said male plug being normally disconnected when the fixture is in open position.

In connection with the prevalent types of lighting fixtures, testing of lamp fixtures has proven very difficult and therefore a further important object of this invention is the provision of a detachable female plug wired in parallel, and contained in a lightweight channel ceiling raceway and removably engageable with a male plug mounted in the lamp circuit of the lamp housing carried by said raceway to effect testing of the lamp circuit while the housing is in open position, which saves much time and eifort and materially aids in testing the system during installation or otherwise, and which may be done with any particular housing unit when a number of units are aligned, without affecting any other unit.

With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several figures, of which:

FIG. 1 is a front side elevation of the complete fixture in operative position.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical sectional view through the assembled device showing light circuit plug-in connectors in operative engagement.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the ceiling raceway and lamp housing hingedly connected in open position and with the plug-in connectors disconnected and the socket plug detached from the raceway and shown in dotted lines operatively engaged with the male connector plug of the lamp housing.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the raceway unit coupler device.

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view on line 55 of FIG. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken on the line 66 of FIG. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows and showing the latching arrangement with the lamp housing in operative locked position.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modification showing, instead of the plug-in connector, a terminal block main circuit line connector.

In the illustrated embodiment characterizing this invention there is shown, in the present instance, a fluorescent lighting fixture A. This fixture is designed for attachment to or suspension from a room ceiling or other overhead supporting medium, and employed as a single unit or with a plurality of units arranged into an infinite line, and including a single supporting ceiling raceway unit B or a plurality of such units by the use of an especially designed coupling element uniting the meeting ends of contiguous ceiling raceway units in progressive sequence.

The lighting fixture A comprises a ceiling raceway B and a complemental lamp housing C. The raceway B is constructed from a one-piece blank of relatively lightweight metallic or plastic material 1 and is formed into an elongated channel or raceway formation, by bending or otherwise forming the material to provide a centrally disposed longitudinal fiat top surface 2 with the outwardly and downwardly extending V-shaped side walls 3 and forming with the oppositely outwardly and downwardly extending top sections 4, an exterior longitudinal crown or dome-like formation 5 and an interior channel space 6 in which terminate the lower threaded ends of the supporting rods 7 and the threaded nuts 8 for supporting the said raceway B and lamp housing member C carried thereby. The top sections or portions 4 terminate at their outer edges in the downwardly extending vertical side walls 9 and 10. The numeral 10 represents the rear wall and 9 the front wall. The rear wall 10 is formed spaced from each end with a small inwardly extending oif-set portion 11 formed with a horizontal slot 12 and the front wall 9 is formed with similar indented oif-set portions 13 formed with threaded openings 14 for a purpose directly more fully appearing.

In the conventional type of ceiling lighting fixture, the complete fixture must be supported until the installation is mounted and wired, which, owing to its weight, has proven quite difficult and time consuming; however, in the instant invention such difficulty has been overcome by the provision of the lightweight inverted trough-like ceiling raceway B and the latching and locking means D between the raceway B and the lamp housing C which permits the raceway suit B to be separately installed and enables the lamp housing to be detachably connected to the raceway unit and held in open position during the remaming installation and testing of the circuit system.

The latching and locking means D includes a pair of U-shaped strips 15, which are mounted between the inner upper edges of the longitudinal upstanding sustaining ribs 16 and 17. These ribs 16 and 17 are spaced laterally with respect to each other, and inwardly relative to the longitudinal side walls of the lamp housing C. The inwardly projecting right angular latching members 19 of the rear vertical leg portions 18 of the U-shaped strips project above the upper edge of the rib 17. Slots 12 in the offset portions 11 in the rear sidewalls 10 of the raceway B are adapted to receive latchingly and hingedly the latching members 19 of the rear vertical portions 18 to support suspendingly the lamp housing C in open position (see FIG. 3) during installation or subsequently for repairs or replacement of lighting elements. The front vertical portions 20 of the U-shaped strips 15 terminate in slightly rounded extremities 21 and are adapted, when the lamp housing is in closed position, to engage in the ofiset portions 13 of the raceway side wall 9. Thumb screws 22, carried by the vertical portions 20, are engageable by suitable manipulations in the threaded openings 14 of the sidewall 9 to interlock rigidly and without vibration, the raceway B and the lamp housing C (in FIG. 1). The members 15 are secured to the sustaining ribs 16 and 17 of the lamp housing C by screws 23.

The channel raceway B is of lightweight construction so as to admit of easy installation and to have directly mountable therein only the main circuit wires 24 and the socket plug connector member 25 for plug-in engagement with the complemental male plug connector member 26suitably mounted in the lamp housing C in circuit connection with the lamp elements, not shown.

An L-shaped bracket '27 is secured to the inner surface of the sidewall 9, adjacent to one end of the raceway unit, by screws 28 or other fastening means, the horizontal portion 29 of said bracket being recessed to form spaced arms 30 which are adapted to straddle and slidably and detachably engage in recesses 25 formed in opposite sides of the socket plug 25 to support said plug.

connector member (FIG. 3). By this construction socket plug member 25, although rigidly supported, is removable for plug-in connection with the male plug connector member 26 when the lamp housing is in open position. When the raceway B and the lamp housing C are in open position as shown, new lamp elements may be installed, wiring checked or repairs made without having to manually hold the housing during such operations. Also, the latching means 18 permits the housing to be swung upwardly into engagement with the raceway B and at the same time automatically effecting the plug-in engagement of the male plug connector 26 with the female plug connector member 25, thus completing the wiring circuit to the housing and closing the lamp circuit (not shown);

as the ends 20 are seated in the indented portions 13, and all that is then necessary is to project the thumb screws in the openings 14 to rigidly secure the parts B and C in rigid vibrationless locked engagement.

It will be apparent that to install the lamp housing C by virtue of the unique latching arrangement, it is only necessary to lift the housing C and insert the latch menv bers 19 in the slots 12, which will hold the housing sufiiciently open to permit such manipulations with respect thereto as may be necessary in connection with the installation operations, and to complete the installation it is only necessary to swing the housing upwardly bringing the lug ends 20 into seating engagement with seats 13 and locking B and C in operative association by the engagement of the thumb screws 22 with the openings 14, and without the use of any tools.

During the initial installation of the housing C or at any subsequent time when the housing is in open position (FIG. 3) to test the circuits or install and test new lamps, and which may be done by an ordinary unskilled person, it is only necessary to detach the female of socket plug connector 25 from its supporting bracket 27 and bring it into plug-in engagement with the male plug connector 26, as shown in dotted lines 26 in FIG. 3, to close the lamp circuit, then all that is necessary is to return the female plug to its supporting bracket 27 and move the lamp housing to closed operative illuminating position, and vibrationlessly lock it by the manipulation of the thumb screws 22.

The raceway unit B is designed as a separate part of the fixture device A and particularly its cross sectional design being such as to provide by the use of a substantially thin lightweight material, a strong non-deformable channel raceway having a space wherein the rod terminals securing the raceway to the ceiling cannot interfere or come into contact with the electric circuit wires, and which unit may be mounted easily owing to its light weight as compared to the conventional method of mounting wherein the complete fixture must be supported until the installation is wired. V

In order to provide for the addition of one or a plurality of units B, a specially designed spacer coupler member 31 (FIG. 4) is provided formed with a crown portion 32 and downwardly stamped or otherwise formed are the opposite end downwardly ofiset portions 33 forming the shoulders 34, which predeterminedly limit the telescoping movement of the portions 33 into the ends of contiguous units B and automatically eifecting a predetermined space 35 between the ends of contiguous lamp housing units in an aligned continuous row. Since the slots 12 in each of the raceway units B are spaced an exact distance from their ends, when the latch members 19 of respective contiguous lamp housing are inserted therein the spaces 35 enable any lamp housing C in the row to be swung to open position or be removed and replaced without rubbing against the housing on either side.

The ends 33 of the spacer coupler 31 are formed with openings 36 adjacent to their end edges adapted toregister with openings 37 formed in the ends of the sides 9 and 10 of the raceway B to receive screws 38 for rigidly locking the coupler 31 and contiguous raceway units B into a rigid raceway of any desired length. It will also be noted that the raceway spacer coupler member 31 owing to its configuration corresponding to that of the units B, when operatively positioned presents an unbroken surface area of the raceway line, and due to the designed dimensional accuracy of the raceway parts, the lamp fixtures in terminal block connector E is suitably mounted in the lamp housing C, in the present instance, adjacent to a,

latch bar member 15, and is designed to make a positive connection with wires 39 to the main circuit in the raceway units B and to an adjacent fixture by wires 40. The block E is formed, in the present instance, with four openings 41 to receive the ends of the wires 39 and 4t} and mounted in the block at right angles to said openings are a like number of screws 42 adapted to clampingly engage the ends of the respective wires to secure them in the block. 1

It will be apparent that we have provided a lighting fixture comprising lightweight ceiling raceway units, a spacer coupler member adapted to accurately position the connectable units, at the same time, providing spaces between the lamp housings, to render installation easy as well as manipulation of the units; a lamp housing adapted to contain all components except the main circuit wires and a female connector Plug mounting per mitting the plug to be plugged in with the complemental male plug carried by the lamp housing, when the latter is in open position; a unique latching arrangement enabling ready and complete attachment and detachment with respect to the ceiling raceway, and particularly it will be noted that the lamp housing may be worked on and the circuit tested, while the lamp housing is in open position, etc, which has been incapable of accomplishment by the prevalent type of lighting fixtures heretofore in use.

Although in practice we have found that the form of our invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings and referred to in the above description as the preferred embodiment, is the most efhcient and practical; yet realizing that conditions concurrent with the adoption of our invention will necessarily vary, we desire to emphasize that various minor changes in details of construction, proportion and arrangement of parts, may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims without departing from or sacrificing any of the principles of this invention.

We claim:

1. A lighting fixture comprising an inverted troughlike ceiling raceway including depending front and rear side walls, a substantially rectilinearly-shaped lamp housing including longitudinal sides having longitudinal edges and interconnected with transverse end walls, the lamp housing including a pair of upstanding sustaining rib members laterally spaced with respect to each other and spaced inwardly relatively to the longitudinal edges of the lamp housing, interacting separable latching and locking means in connection with the rear side wall of the ceiling raceway and the rear rib member of the lamp housing for supportingly and longitudinally hingedly interconnecting the raceway rear side wall and lamp housing rear rib member, and interacting means for supportingly locking the remaining raceway front side wall and other lamp housing rib in lamp housing closed position, an L-shaped bracket mounted on the inner surface of the front raceway side wall, the L-shaped bracket having spaced horizontal arms, a female plug-in connector slidably but firmly detachably supported between the spaced horizontal arms of the L-shaped bracket, and a male plug connector mounted in the lamp housingadapted for automatic plug-in engagement with the female connector when the lamp housing is in closed position, the female connector being removable and operatively engageable with the male connector when the lamp housing is in open position to close the lighting circuit.

2. A lighting fixture including a plurality of detachably interconnected inverted elongated ceiling raceway units, each including a pair of parallel depending side walls apertured adjacent to their respective ends, one of the side walls having spaced slots, a pair of similar lamp housings connected to the ceiling raceway units, each of the lamp housings having an open top, each of the lamp housings being substantially rectilinearly shaped and inclined transverse end walls interconnected with a pair of longitudinally extending upstanding parallel sustaining ribs disposed equi-distantly relative to the lateral extremities of said end walls, supporting and locking hinge means carried by one of the sustaining ribs in the lamp housings for detachable engagement with the slots in the side wall of the respective raceway, interacting means for supportingly locking the remaining side wall of the respective raceways and the lamp housing remaining rib when the lamp housings are in closing position, and a coupling element coupling together the ceiling raceway units by having complemental ends telescopically engaged in opposed ends of contiguous ceiling raceway units and formed intermediate its length with means to limit spacing of opposing ends of the ceiling raceway units for predeterminedly spacing opposing ends of contiguous lamp housings in aligned end-to-end relation.

3. A lighting fixture comprising an inverted trough-like ceiling raceway including a pair of laterally spaced depending side walls respectively provided with spaced horizontal slots and correspondingly spaced openings in the respective side walls of said pairs, a substantially rectilinearly-shaped lamp unit including transverse end walls interconnected by a pair of longitudinally extending upstanding sustaining rib members laterally spaced with respect to each other and inwardly relative to the lateral extremities of said end walls, a pair of spaced U-shaped strips having vertical leg portions mounted between and connected to upper edge portions of the rib members, the vertical leg portions at one side terminating in inwardly extending right angular support members removably inserted inwardly through said slots to support longitudinally hingedly and suspendingly the lamp housing in open and closed positions, the opposite vertical portions being provided with latch means cooperative with said openings to lock the lamp unit firmly in closed position with respect to the raceway, whereby said support members are inclined downwardly when said latch means is released and the lamp unit is swung downwardly to open position, such downward inclination preventing accidental removal of said support members due to swinging of said unit.

4. Fluorescent lighting fixture means of the character described comprising a ceiling raceway of trough-like form and extended length arranged for inverted mounting, a conventional lighting power circuit suitable for operating fluorescent lamp units, said circuit being housed in said raceway and wired in parallel to a plurality of connector fittings carried by said raceway in spaced relation lengthwise thereof, a separately constituted fluorescent lamp unit that is complete and self-contained so as to be capable of operation upon energizing connection to any lighting power circuit suitable therefor, said lamp unit incorporating a complementary connector fitting engageable with any of said plurality of connector fittings carried by said raceway, and means for removably attaching said lamp unit on said raceway selectively in relation to any of said plurality of connector fittings carried by said raceway so that the complementary connector fitting incorporated in said lamp unit is engaged in connecting relation with the selected raceway connector fitting as an incident of the attachment of said lamp unit on said raceway.

5. Fluorescent lighting fixture means of the character described comprising a ceiling raceway of a trough-like form and extended length arranged for inverted mounting, a conventional lighting power circuit suitable for operating fluorescent lamp units, said circuit being housed in said raceway and wired in parallel to a plurality of connector fittings carried by said raceway in spaced relation lengthwise thereof, a plurality of separately constituted fluorescent lamp units, said plurality of lamp units not exceeding in number the number of said plurality of raceway connector fittings and the spacing of any two adjacent raceway connector fittings not being less than the length of a lamp unit of said plurality, each of said fluorescent lamp units being complete and self-contained for operation upon energizing connection to any 7 lighting power circuit suitable therefor and each of said lamp units incorporating a complementary connector fitting engageable with any of said raceway connector fittings, and means for removably attaching each of said plurality of lamp units on said raceway in relation to one of said plurality of raceway connector fittings so that the complementary connector fittings incorporated in said lamp units are engaged with a related raceway connector fitting for operating said lamp units from said power circuit as an incident of the attachment of the lamp units on said raceway, and so that each lamp unit remains separately disconnectable from said power circuit as an incident of detachment from said raceway without affecting the operation of any other lamp unit of said plurality.

6. Fluorescent lighting fixture means of the character described comprising a ceiling raceway of trough-like form and extended length arranged for inverted mounting at a fixed overhead position, a conventional lighting power circuit suitable for operating fluorescent lamp units, said circuit comprising only electrical wiring housed in said raceway and wired in parallel to a plurality of connector fittings carried by said raceway in spaced relation lengthwise thereof, at least one separately constituted fluorescent lamp unit incorporating all components required for operation upon energizing connection to the 8 lighting power circuit housed by said raceway and further incorporating a complementary connector fitting engageable with any of said plurality of connector fittings carried by said raceway for such energizing connection, the spacing of any two adjacent raceway connector fittings not being less than the length of said lamp unit, and means for removably attaching said lamp unit on said raceway selectively in relation to any of said plurality of raceway connector fittings so that the complementary connector fitting incorporated in said lamp unit is engaged in connecting relation with the selected raceway connector fitting as an incident of the attachment of said lamp unit on said raceway, so that said lamp unit may be attached on said raceway in contiguous relation to another like lamp unit when the spacing of said raceway connector fittings is equal to the length of said lamp unit, and so that said lamp unit remains separately disconnectable from said lighting power circuit as an incident of detachment from said raceway without affecting the operation or disposition of any other like lamp unit attached thereon.

Campsen Nov. 30, 1943 Westby May 11, 1954 in. He. 

